<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Three's Better than None by Winterling42</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22766923">Three's Better than None</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42'>Winterling42</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>UnDeadwood (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Polyamory Negotiations, Seducing a Priest</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 12:36:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>990</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22766923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>3 times the girls tried to make Mason see sense, and 1 time it worked.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Miriam Landisman/Arabella Whitlock, Miriam Landisman/Reverend Matthew Mason</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The way the show played out, I don't see Aly coming back into the fold any time soon...but I AM writing a Clayton-lives AU in which he plays a Significant Part. :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> The first time Miriam kissed him, it was late. Too late, really, to be doing business, but the kind of hours kept by Deadwood had never been exactly regular. They were up in his room at the Bullock Hotel, Miriam helping him sort out the books for the church's construction. He could do simple math just fine, he'd assured her, but somehow all the tallying had gotten out of hand. It wasn't that he was out of his depth. It was that he wanted to do right by this place, even if no one else did. </p><p>"I think we've got a handle on it for now," she was saying, leaning over with one hand on his shoulder. Mason turned his head to look up at her, smiling just a little. "Either that or I'm starting to see those numbers backwards." She laughed, softly, and he felt something soft and heavy in his throat. A tender ache so strong he had to look away, back down to the ink-blotted paper under his hands. </p><p>He felt her lean down and brush her lips against his cheek, her hand still on his shoulder. The ache grew, reaching deep into his chest, until he couldn't tell if avoiding it or leaning in would bring relief. Miriam hadn't moved, but laid her forehead against his roughly cut hair and didn't speak. Mason sat very still, barely breathing. The impulse to put his hand on her waist was so strong he could almost feel the fabric of her dress under his fingers. All he'd have to do to be kissing her was turn his head a little...</p><p>"Well," Miriam said--whispered-- "If you're not ready." She stood up slowly, let out a long sigh and smiled down at him. Mason finally found the courage to swallow, to turn and look at her properly. He hoped she saw all the things he couldn't say--his longing, and regret, and guilt, all mixed up into some nameless thing so big it <em>hurt</em> to feel. </p><p>"I'm...very sorry, Miss Miriam," he said, so quietly he didn't know if she could hear. Miriam reached out to touch his face, lay her thumb against the scar growing fainter every year. He couldn't help but lean into it, some instinct deeper than he could command reaching for the warmth. </p><p>"It's alright, Matthew," she said, still smiling. "I think I'd better turn in for the evening." Dumbly, he nodded, and she drew her hand away. "Good night, Reverend." </p><p>"Goodnight, Miss Miriam." Mason looked back at his ledger, fiddling uselessly with the pen until he heard the door close before dropping his head into his hands.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"He didn't exactly go for it, no," Miriam laughed while she said it. Arabella was helping her out of her corset and skirts, the mistress of their fine house already dressed for sleep with her hair all pinned up and her long white nightdress. Sometimes Miriam had to remind herself that Arabella wasn't a ghost, she was so pale. But then she smiled over one shoulder, and she was so bright. So young. "I only hope I didn't scare the poor boy." </p><p>"Should we circle the wagons?" Arabella said, hanging the layers of the dress properly so they wouldn't wrinkle. "I trust your judgement over all, Miriam, but--"</p><p>"If you're so eager to kiss him yourself than you ought to tell <em>him</em> that," Miriam said drily. She stepped across the room to kiss the sting out of her words, to rest her fingertips gently against Arabella's hand. It wouldn't do to push too hard. On either of them. She loved them too much, too fiercely. "In any case, darling," she said to Arabella, softly. "I don't know he's ready for it. You know how Godly men can be." </p><p>"I don't actually," Arabella said, with her most crooked smile. "But again, I'll trust your judgement." </p><p>"Oh!" Miriam put a hand over her heart, all affronted dignity--except her eyes, which couldn't hide her laughter. "Well, I see what you think of my <em>virtue</em>, Miss Arabella--"</p><p>"No, I didn't mean that at all!" Arabella said, but she was laughing too. She put her arms around Miriam's waist, swinging them around the room in a muddled, lazy dance. "You know what I mean," she said, still swaying to music only she could hear. Miriam put her arms across Arabella's shoulders, letting the younger woman lead. Watching her work through something behind those bright green eyes. </p><p>"I thought I'd be alone out here," she said at last, thoughtfully. Miriam couldn't help but pull her a little closer, but Arabella only shook her head and smiled sideways. "I knew--I thought I knew what I was getting into. And I never expected to find what we did, to fight what we did....but even without all that. There's a quality of person that I found in you, and in the others too." The cold space around them where Clayton should have been didn't linger long, not tonight. But Miriam felt it, all the same. She always did. </p><p>"I suppose it's greedy of me," Arabella would have snorted, if she hadn't been too well mannered for that. Instead she laughed a small, short laugh and went on, "Heaven knows I've loved that sin before." </p><p>"I don't think love can ever be a sin," Miriam smiled as she pushed a loose lock of hair away from Arabella's face. "It ain't greed either, to want to care for someone." </p><p>Arabella smiled that too-sharp smile, the one that said she knew better. "Did you tell <em>him </em>that?" she asked, almost shyly, and Miriam couldn't help but kiss her again. Just a small kiss, at the edge of her mouth. A piece of affection she wouldn't have allowed herself even a month ago, shared easily now. How quickly things seemed to change, and how quickly she felt they'd always been that way. </p><p>"Why don't you try?" she asked.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>